Coming Home
by WeaponFanfic
Summary: Life hasn't been the same for William since he was rescued from Lyoko. Can an unlikely source help him get his life back together? WARNING: Lemon material within. Episode 1 of The Reset Arc.
1. Kadic at Night

**Coming Home**

_Life hasn't been the same for William since he was rescued from Lyoko. Can an unlikely source help him get his life back together? WARNING: Lemon material within. Episode 1 of The Reset Arc._

Disclaimer: Code Lyoko was created by Tania Palumbo and Thomas Romain. It was produced by Antefilms and then by MoonScoop. It is aired in France by France 3 and in America by Cartoon Network. The author is neither employed by nor affiliated with any of the above companies or entities. All characters, locales, and other non-original entities are property of the parties mentioned above. All rights reserved.

* * *

A crescent moon hung over Paris, the dim moonlight highlighting the busy nightlife of the city. Even in the middle of the work week, nightclubs were alive with flashing lights and loud music. The patrons would be dancing, hanging out inside of the club, or mingling with others trying to get lucky. The people that were done for the night went home with the same person they came to the club with, left with someone new, or left alone to go to another club or go straight home. Much like other major cities around the world, the city of love knew no sleep.

Though it was a boarding school, the campus of Kadic Academy was no different. The campus had rules about the males and females of the student population and their interactions with each other at night. They even had an enforcer of the rules in Jim Morales, the one employee of the school that seemed to take on every possible job the facility had to offer. Nevertheless, the obstacles set forth against them could not stop the students from experiencing love in all its possible forms. Whether it was sneaking off campus for a date or meeting up with a significant other in their dorm rooms, love found a way to persevere despite the odds presented.

The sound of moaning woke up William Dunbar. He was a light sleeper by nature and while physical light annoyed him more than sound, that didn't mean that he wouldn't wake up from a noise. Normally, moans would not bother him. When he first moved to Kadic and heard them at night, his natural teenage curiosity found them to be exciting since this was the thing only found in the movies. After hearing them more often than he expected, however, he grew to ignore them and sleep through the sounds. This one was different. For some reason, this one seemed familiar, like he knew just who was source of the moaning. Intrigued, he got up from his bed, put on a shirt and exited his dorm room.

William winced as he exited the room. Even at night, the fluorescent hallway lights of the dorm building shone brightly. While it provided safety for the students, it also proved to be an annoyance to anyone exiting their dark rooms. Once his eyes had adjusted to the level of light, he opened them wider to get a better view of the area. The moaning sounded off again and he sensed that it was coming from down the hallway. He walked forward towards the source of the sound, the moaning getting a bit louder as he progressed. When he came to the end of the hallway he found a door slightly ajar. William stood outside of the door, questioning as to why it wasn't fully closed like the rest of the doors in the building. He heard the noise again, this time coming from the room with the open door. He gulped as he crept to the door and slowly opened it wider to get a better view of what was inside. What he found made his jaw drop to the floor.

There was a bed on the left side of the room. On top of the bed was Yumi Ishiyama, a girl in the same class as he was. She sat in the middle of the bed on her knees with her legs spread apart. The light entering the room not only caused her raven-colored hair to shine but revealed to him that she was wearing no clothing at all. The light also gave her back an angelic glow and presented William with a good look at her beautiful slender frame usually hidden beneath an ensemble of baggy clothing. She moaned softly as she moved rhythmically up and down the bed, gripping the biceps of the boy underneath her.

Ulrich Stern was the boy in question. He was one year younger than her and had been friends with her for quite some time. In light of this situation, however, it seemed as if the friendship was quickly elevated into something more serious. He looked lovingly at her face as he moaned in a softer tone than hers; smiling as his hands grasped her hips as if to guide her rhythm.

William stood in the doorway suspended in disbelief. He couldn't believe that he was watching the one woman that mattered to him with another man. Worse yet, it was with the man whom she claimed was nothing more than just a friend. As they continued to move together, William grew conflicted. He wanted to kill Ulrich but could not find the strength to move from his spot. The lack of strength also prevented him from running away to forget everything he was seeing. All he could do was stand and watch as both Yumi and Ulrich made love to each other.

After what seemed like an eternity, Yumi's moans grew in volume as she and Ulrich began to move faster and faster. William still stood in the doorway, mouth agape at what he saw and surprised that no one else in the building seemed to notice the noises. The moaning grew louder and louder until finally transforming into a long scream as Yumi arched backwards. Her hair swung through the air as her head tilted back. Her hands were gripping tight on Ulrich's arms as she closed her eyes, thoroughly enjoying the pleasure she was receiving. Ulrich let out a loud moan of his own as he thrust his hip towards Yumi, his fingers digging into her hips for a tighter grip. As he reached the end of his climax, his body slowly fell back to the bed while his grip on her loosened. It took a little while longer for Yumi to finish but she too made the slow descent towards the bed, landing on Ulrich's body. Their foreheads touched as they gave each other light kisses to calm each other down.

As William was beginning to gain some feeling back in his body again, Yumi turned her head to face him, causing his to become motionless once more. She smiled at him, seeming to like the fact that she was being watched while she was making love. Ulrich tilted his head up to see what she was looking at. When he found out it was William, he grinned, confirming to him that in the battle for Yumi's heart he was the clear winner. The couple turned their attention away from William and back on each other as the light kissing grew deeper and heavier. Yumi moved away from Ulrich's body and lay on top of the bed while he moved on top of her. She spread her legs for him as he hovered above her before lowering himself onto her. William could only muster up enough strength to wince the moment Yumi's face lit up in ecstasy.

William shot out of bed with a look of shock on his face. His eyes wide in amazement. His body and forehead glistening with sweat that had also soaked his bed sheets. He turned to the clock beside his bed that read 5:47am. Too early to start the day yet too late to try and go back to sleep. William covered his face with both of his hands before falling back down onto the bed. Ever since he was rescued from the digital world of Lyoko, he had suffered nightmares. At first, it was a fleeting thing. Once a month at the most. But as time went on, the nightmares became for frequent and more intense. Soon, every night he slept, he endured nightmares dealing with his grades, his parents and his classmates. This nightmare he just had hit him hard using the woman he secretly loved as a weapon against him. As he continued to cover his face in an attempt to isolate himself from the world, the alarm clock rang. He turned to shut it off before wearily getting out of bed, dreading the grueling day ahead of him.


	2. Problems of a Friend

The lunch bell marked the halfway point of the school day. On a day that started off unusually brisk, the head of the cafeteria thought it would be a good idea to offer the students clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Aelita grabbed her tray from the cafeteria line and headed towards her usual table to join the rest of her friends. As she took her first spoonful of the soup, she looked up at Jeremie who was sitting directly across from her. Over the past six months he had started to look like a normal healthy teenage boy. However, with the discovery to XANA's existence a few days ago, she began to notice a look on him that was all too familiar. "How late did you stay up last night?" she asked him.

Jeremie covered his mouth to yawn before shaking himself awake. After XANA was thought to have been defeated, Jeremie began to take on normal sleeping patterns. His skin had a healthy tone to it and his hair was always groomed properly. More importantly, he had more energy than before, allowing him to hang out with his friends more often. XANA's re-appearance a few days ago robbed him of all of this newfound youth, leaving him to a regression to his former self. His eyes had slightly dark circles under them. His hair was a bit unkempt and the glow on his skin was getting a bit pale. His newfound energy was sapped away, leaving him a tired mess by the middle of the day. "I don't really remember," he answered.

Aelita shook her head. "Listen, I know how much you want to stop XANA," she said, "but I don't want you to kill yourself over it."

"But…" Jeremie protested.

"No buts, Jeremie," she interrupted. "The more you try and overwork yourself, the more likely it is you'll hurt u than help us when the time comes to fight XANA. Please, just one night of normal sleep. That's all I ask."

Jeremie gave her a slight nod. "I'll cut off my work early tonight, but only because you want me to."

Aelita blushed at the comment. While she felt that she needed more of a commitment from him to take care of himself, if all she could get out of it was one night of him postponing work, she would take it.

"Awww, how cute," said Odd. Both Yumi and Ulrich grinned, knowing that the smartest couple in all of Kadic just made a romantic compromise without even knowing it. Once they realized what was going on, Aelita and Jeremie turned away briefly, each one of them trying to pretend that what had just happened didn't happen at all.

Jeremie tried to steer the conversation to another topic. "Anyway, all that work paid off. Except for the skidbladnir, I have all of the vehicles updated and ready for battle. I also added extra armor to your costumes so you should all have more hit points every time you enter Lyoko."

"Sweet!" exclaimed Odd. "Anything else?"

Jeremie nodded. "Actually, there is for you, Odd? You know how I always have to reload your magazines every time you run out of laser arrows? You now have an infinite ammunition clip. No reloading necessary."

Odd pumped his fist in the air. He treated this new upgrade like a cheat code for a video game. With this equipped, he would have no trouble dealing with any of XANA's monsters.

Jeremie put up a finger. "There is a catch, however."

The look of happiness on Odd's face made way for a look of concern. "Catch?" he asked. "Like, I have to enter up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start to get my infinite ammo?"

"Not quite," he responded. "In order to give you the infinite ammunition, I had to reprogram your laser arrow guns to be temperature based. As long as you keep the guns cool, you'll be fine. If you fire continuously for too long, however, the guns overheat and you'll have to let them cool down for a bit before using them again."

"So, don't go guns blazing forever unless I want to disable my laser arrows and hurt myself in the process, right?" He wanted clarification on this matter since he didn't want to become a hindrance on the battlefield by getting himself killed through weapon abuse. "Eh, I'll take what I can get, I suppose."

Jeremie nodded as he covered his mouth once more to yawn.

Yumi looked up after taking a spoonful of chowder. "Looks like someone else is in need of a good sleep," she said as she pointed to a boy with her spoon.

Ulrich looked up to see that she was pointing at William sitting a few tables away. He was sitting at the table alone and looked miserable. His eyes looked bloodshot with dark circles under his eyes that looked as bad as Jeremie's. He shook himself often to fight away the drowsy feeling he was having. His hair was a mess and he sighed often, a more telling sign that he was tired. "He looks like he went through hell," Ulrich said.

"I better find out what's going on," she said. With that, she took her tray and walked over to William's table. She set it down next to his and sat down. "You feeling okay, William?"

William turned to see Yumi sitting beside him. He straightened up his posture and cleared his throat after a mild cough. "Oh, hey, Yumi," he responded. "I'm doing good."

"You sure don't look good," she answered, making note of his current appearance. "Are you sure everything is going okay? I mean, I know you've been through a lot, so…"

"I'm good," he said, interrupting her as he nodded his head. She was right. Discovering Lyoko. Being trapped there. Used as a pawn by a megalomaniacal A.I. program. Being set free. This was plenty for anyone to handle, let alone someone in high school. The last thing he wanted, however, was to be reminded of all that had happened to him. "Really, everything is alright."

Yumi didn't respond. She could sense that he didn't want to talk about it anymore so she didn't try and pursue the issue any longer. "You mind if I sit here, then? You know… because." William gave a weak smile as he continued to eat his chowder. Yumi returned the weak smile with one of her own as she ate her meal, neither of them saying anything else to each other.

Ulrich looked at the table where Yumi and William were sitting at. He was conflicted. He was jealous that it was William sitting near Yumi and not him. However, he and Yumi were just friends. If she wanted to sit near William, then he couldn't do anything to stop her. Aside from that, she went to see if anything was wrong with him. Since he was one of the few people that had ever seen the digital world, let alone be captured by their enemy, it made sense to see if anything was wrong. If it was important enough to concern her, it was important enough to concern him as well. Still, the spark of envy was there as he continued to watch them.

"I don't know how you can do it," Odd said.

"Do what?" Ulrich asked as he turned his attention back to his tray of food.

Odd took a spoonful of chowder. "Sit there calmly while your potential significant other chats it up with your adversary in love."

Ulrich sighed. "How many times have I told you, Yumi and I are just good friends."

"I believe that," he responded. "I also believe you want something more out of it."

Ulrich shook his head. His best friend had the uncanny ability of being right at times like this. "That's not the point. Yumi and I are friends and if she wants to go talk to William, then she can go talk to William. I'm not going to stop her."

"Whatever, man," he said. "You know you're going to have to tell her sooner or later before she just gives up on you and looks for someone else." With that, the group went on to finish their food before the second half of the school day commenced.


	3. Anoher Nightmare

The night sky fell on Kadic Academy once more. While the rest of the campus was busy either studying or engaging in other activities, William sat on the bed in his room. On the nightstand beside him was a glass of water and a sleeping pill he acquired from the school nurse. Normally he wouldn't even think of taking any type of drug to help him go to sleep since he usually didn't have any trouble doing that naturally. However, with all of the bad dreams he had been receiving recently, his health had taken a hit and he felt worse for wear. At this point, he would try anything to even get one good night's sleep. He took the pill in his hand and quickly popped it into his mouth before finishing the glass of water. He set the empty glass back on the nightstand and went under the covers of his bed, determined to finally get some rest. A few moments later, the medicine kicked in and William's body and mind succumbed to the call of sleep.

William and Yumi exited the front doors of the movie theater. They had just finished watching what turned out to be a sappy yet enjoyable romantic comedy together. Both of them had grins on their faces yet none of them said a word to each other. As if by instinct, Yumi started to walk home while William decided to walk her there. After a few blocks of walking, William decided to break the silence.

"So, what did you think?" he asked.

Yumi brushed aside the few strands of hair that fell in front of her face. "It was actually better than I thought," she answered. "They told a really good story."

"Yeah," he responded, "especially how it all came together in the end."

Both of them continued talking as they walked, discussing the jokes and other details about the movie they had just watched. Truthfully, the movie was something they found to be mediocre. However, both of them seemed to be having some problems at home and at school. With everything crumbling around them, they both felt that they needed to see something happy to make them forget about all it all. With a romantic comedy the only thing that fit the bill, the subpar quality of the film was enough to help them get through. For a brief moment in time, they found a bit of happiness. Just as the conversation ended, the duo had reached the front door of Yumi's house.

"Listen," she said. "Thanks for the company and for the movie. I really needed it."

William gave a slight nod. "You're welcome. And thanks for hanging out with me. I needed the distraction."

"Well I'm glad I could help," she responded as she smiled at him.

William smiled back. This was the moment. He had finally found the perfect time to make his move. He began to close his eyes and lean in towards Yumi, preparing to finally kiss the girl he so longed for ever since he entered Kadic Academy. As he leaned closer, expecting to feel the lips of his love pressed against his, he felt the force of two hands pressed against his shoulder blades, pushing him away. He opened his eyes to find Yumi's head leaning back, a serious look of sadness in her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Um, William," she stammered. "I like you a lot. I really do."

"But…?" William interrupted.

Yumi bit her lip, knowing that this would be a hard thing to say to him. "But… I only like you as a friend. I can't give you my heart. It belongs to someone else. I'm sorry."

William's heart began to shatter. After almost a year of fawning after this girl, chasing her down and getting to know her, he finally mustered enough courage to tell her how he feels about her. His reward for all of this was complete rejection and the knowledge that he never had a chance. "I understand," he responded as he backed off. He took a few steps away from the door when he turned around to find Yumi still standing outside. "I have to ask. If I don't have your heart, then who does?" His answer came in the form of a hand coming from behind and grabbing his shoulder. He turned around to find Ulrich standing right behind him.

"Sorry, man, but not all movies have happy endings." While he was addressing William, Ulrich's eyes were only focused on Yumi. He brushed him aside as he walked towards Yumi, who was already greeting him with open arms. They both embraced and kissed each other deeply before opening the front door to go inside.

The black-haired boy stood there in disbelief. His plan to finally reveal how he felt about Yumi had failed. The girl he loved only wanted to be friends with him. Meanwhile, his rival in this fight for love had both succeeded and accelerated the relationship far beyond what he thought was possible. As he stood outside the Ishiyama residence, the once sunny sky grew dark. A heavy rain suddenly poured down from the heavens, soaking him with droplets as large as coins and as cold as ice. With the rain coming down like sharp needles from the sky, William slowly took the long walk back to his dorm room, sad, depressed and alone.

The alarm clock in the room buzzed, letting William escape from his dream. As he turned it off, he looked at the empty glass and cursed at it. While his body did get the rest that it needed, he was rewarded with another nightmare, this one designed to put him in a depressed state. It had worked. William woke up feeling miserable and sorry for himself. The continued mental anguish from the nightmares was taking its toll on him in the worst possible way. If it continued, he felt hat he would lose his sanity and grip on the world around him. With a heavy heart, he got out of bed and got ready for the day ahead of him.


	4. Seeking Help

Swedish meatballs filled the plates presented to the students at lunch. Yumi grabbed her tray and sat down with the rest of her friends. Odd was already halfway done with his plate while Aelita and Jeremie were already talking amongst themselves about the programming session they were about to have tonight. With everyone else already busy, she began to eat her meal.

"How's William doing?" Ulrich asked as he placed his tray on the table and sat down across from Yumi.

Yumi finished the food in her mouth before speaking. "I'm not sure," she answered. "The way he answered me when I asked, I know something's up with him. Problem is, I can't figure out what it is that's bothering him. It's a mystery to me."

Ulrich turned around to see William sitting in the same spot as yesterday. He also had the same look as yesterday. "You should probably try to ask him again. He might be in a more talkative mood."

She looked past him and saw William with the same countenance as before. "You think I might get somewhere this time?" she asked him.

"Only one way to find out," Ulrich said.

Yumi needed no more encouragement. She picked up her bag and tray and walked over to William's table. "Look, I know I'm going to sound like a broken record, but are you alright?" she asked as she set her things down on the table.

William sat down looking at his plate. While he was normally good about cleaning his dish, his plate was still full save for a few meatballs missing here and there. He was busy playing with his food, poking a meatball with his fork and twirling it on the plate, when Yumi sat down. "Yeah, I'm good," he answered lazily as he raised up the fork and took a small bite of the meal stuck to the utensil.

Yumi sighed. "You look about as bad as yesterday. Is there something you're not telling me?"

William set his fork down and put his hands together in front of his face before turning to Yumi. "Look, I'm not the type of person to hide things from other people," he said. "I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me and there's nothing bothering me. Now, if you came all the way here just to see how I'm doing…"

"Actually, I came to ask for some help," Yumi interrupted. "It's geometry class. I couldn't figure out exactly what the teacher was talking about today, so I was wondering if you could help me out with it."

"What is it you need help with?" he asked.

"Well…" she pulled out her textbook and turned to the page where today's lesson took place. She figured that if she couldn't get him to open up, at least she wouldn't make it obvious that her only purpose for coming over was to check up on him. William had immediately recognized the pages for the lesson and proceeded to help Yumi out.

Odd peered over to see Yumi and William sitting down a few tables away from them, sharing a textbook together. He then looked over to Ulrich who seemed content not to observe what was going on. "I don't get it," he said to Ulrich. "Yesterday, you let Yumi sit down next to William. Today, you practically send her over to him. The last time I checked, when you want to try and hook up with someone, you tend to keep them away from competition."

"I told you yesterday, Yumi and I are just friends."

"So you mean to tell me that you're completely alright with Yumi sitting down with William and not with you?" Odd asked sternly.

Ulrich nodded his head in the affirmative. "Hell no!" he exclaimed in a low tone. "I'll admit I'm jealous right now. It's painful to see her next to the guy that almost got us all killed in Lyoko. But as much as I want to punch the guy in the throat, I know that Yumi still sees him as a friend and something is bothering that friend. If I have to sit here and watch her with him in order to keep my friendship with her going, then I'm going to do just that: sit here and let her handle it all."

"Then you are a braver man than I am," he affirmed. "I just hope that this all ends in your favor."

"I hope so," Ulrich answered. "I really do."

William closed his textbook as he leaned back on his chair. He stretched and cleaned up his desk, putting his pens and notebooks away in their proper places. He looked at the clock as it read 11:00PM. He took in a deep breath as he looked at his bed. Most people would have enjoyed going to bed, taking a few hours out of the day to rest and get away from all the worries of the world. William, however, found the bed to be nothing but the source of all of his worries, giving him no chance to rest or relax. As he prepared for another night of restless slumber, the phone on his desk began to ring. He waited for another ring to occur but it did not happen. He picked up his phone and saw that he did not receive a phone call but a text message instead. He clicked on a few buttons to read the message.

"Get out of the dorms. We need to talk."

William looked at the message and scratched his head. Who would want to talk to him at this time of night and why would they need to talk outside of the dorms? He looked at the rest of the message to see if he could find a number but nothing else was shown, not even some text indicating that this was an anonymous caller. Dismissing the message as a wrong number call, he set his phone down and prepared for bed. Before he could do anything else, the phone rang again. William flipped open the phone to read the new text message.

"Get out of the dorms. We need to talk."

He realized that whoever this person was, he or she would not stop texting him until a response was made. With some quick typing on the number pad, William sent the anonymous person a message.

"Why should I? I don't even know you!"

Less than a minute later, there was a response.

"I know about your sleeping problems. I can help you fix it but you need to go outside."

William's eyes widened. He had never told anyone about his problems getting to bed or about the nightmares he was constantly having. No one knew about any of that and yet this person somehow knew what William was going through. He had no idea what to think about all of this. He sat down on his chair and stared at his phone, hoping that it would give him some advice on what to do next. Moments later, he typed out a reply.

"Fine. I'll be outside in a few minutes."

He walked over to his nightstand and grabbed his dorm room keys and a small bottle of pepper spray, a gift from his parents some time ago. William knew how to fight and considered himself to be pretty decent at it but he didn't want to be ill prepared in case this turned out to be something he couldn't handle with his fists alone. He took his phone from the desk, set it to vibrate, and opened his door. He checked both sides of the hallway to ensure that no one was around. When the coast was clear, he exited his room and slowly closed the door behind him. He crept around slowly and quietly so as not to alert anyone else in the hallway. He took slow steps down the stairs to that no noise could be made. Several minutes later, he was a few feet away from the front door of the dorms. Before he had a chance to look at his surroundings, William felt the buzz of the phone in his pocket. He pulled it out to see another message appear on his screen.

"Go through the park and out of campus."

William shook his head. Whoever was doing this to him was jumping through a lot of hoops to get to him. Worse yet, William was willing to go along with it all. He cut through the park and found a way to get out of the campus grounds. As text message after text message appeared on his phone, he followed every one of them in hopes of finding answers. After a slew of instructions, the messages stopped coming in. William found himself in front of an old house. It looked clean on the outside but the lack of lights gave the impression that it may be abandoned.

"Now what?" he texted back, his left hand in his pocket gripping the pepper spray.

"The door is open. Go inside and turn on the lights."

William did just that. He turned the knob of the front door and found the light switch on the wall. The light in the room revealed a mess. Books were scattered all over the room. Some of them open with pages torn out. Most of the room was layered in dust, though there were some spots where some human activity seemed to have taken place. Couch cushions were overturned and the pictures on the walls were all crooked. He pulled out his phone once he felt it vibrate.

"Look for a door leading to a basement."

He searched throughout the bottom floor of the house and found that it contained very few rooms and doors. Aside from a kitchen, living room and bathroom, all of the rooms for the house were located on the second floor. As he was about to give up on the search, he saw that the wall beneath the stairs had a door. He opened it up and found it to be a standard closet. He stepped inside to have a better look when he heard something unusual. He stepped out of the closet and noticed that the floor had a deep sound to it. When he stepped into the closet, however, the floor sounded hollow. Curious, he took out his cell phone and hit the display button. He flipped it over and used it as a makeshift flashlight. As he scanned the floor, he found a small hole, just big enough for a finger. He placed his index finger inside the hole and hooked it, pulling it up to reveal a set of stairs that led down. Continuing to use the phone as a flashlight, he shone it downwards as he made the descent.

William found a light switch once he reached the bottom of the stairs. Once he flicked the switch, he saw that this was no ordinary basement. The basement housed a large metal cylinder with a sliding door in the front. Next to that was a larger monitor with a sizable control panel in front of it. A mainframe was located underneath the panel and surrounded by fields of wires and cables. He had a strange feeling about the machinery in front of him but curiosity got the better of him as he turned on the computer. The screen came alive with several lines of code that made no sense to him whatsoever. Once the screen stopped scrolling, the sliding door opened, revealing a soft glow of white light inside.

Suddenly, William remembered why the machinery gave him a funny feeling. The metal cylinder looked just like the scanning pods from the factory. If that was the case, then the computer next to it must be what runs it. A flood of memories began to rush into his head. Lyoko. The brainwashing. The digital sea. XANA. He began to step away from it all when he received another text message.

"Please step into the scanner."

William quickly typed out a reply.

"I promised myself I wouldn't go there again. I can't do it."

Less than a minute later, another message came in.

"This is the only way you can find the answers you seek."

William began to hyperventilate. He couldn't go back there. Not to the place where he had lost himself six months ago. On the other hand, he had already come this far to seek answers. He had nothing else to lost by going to the scanner one last time. As he began to calm down, he stepped into the scanner. Once his body was fully inside, the doors closed in front of him. A gust of wind came from beneath his feet as a ring began to move from his feet to his face, giving him a thorough scan. He closed his eyes as pure white light filled the vessel, blinding him until nothing could be seen anymore.


	5. Conscience

William opened his eyes and saw that he was laying down on a white-colored floor. He got up and brushed himself before looking at the environment he was in. All around him was nothing but white. There seemed to be no walls or ceiling to the area. Everything was the same color, giving him the feeling that he was in an area with no visible boundaries whatsoever. A wide open space with no end in sight.

"Mr. William Dunbar, I presume?"

The raven-haired boy turned around to see another man in the area. He wore a skin tight outfit that was colored white, much like the space around him. He was a man of average height, exactly the same height as William. His face, however, was nowhere to be seen. His whole head was covered in white. There were no signs of eyes, ears, a nose, a mouth or even hair. It was as if the man before him was a living faceless puppet. "Who are you?" William asked.

The figure placed his hand over his chest. "I am your conscience. Your inner self that talks to you whenever you have anything on your mind."

William looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face. "My conscience has an English accent?"

"Why not?" the being responded. "There isn't a rule stating that we need to sound exactly like our physical selves."

William continued to give him the look. "Yeah, well, what about a face? I mean, I figure my conscience should at least have a face."

The figure took one hand and placed it on his forehead. As his fingers moved down the blank space, a face began to appear… at least something that resembled a face. Two eyes were present, though they were black and appeared to be empty. Two nostrils appeared to form the nose, though there was no physical shape protruding from the face to make a convincing nose. In place of a mouth was a straight line that did not seem like it possessed the ability to move. "I hope this is satisfactory for you."

"Yeah, sure," William said, both confused and amazed by the fact that his conscience created a face that was very basic in design. "Anyway, 'conscience'…"

"I'm sorry," the being interrupted, "but could you please call me Xavier? It seems rather silly to keep referring to me as 'conscience.'"

William shook his head. "Fine, whatever. Xavier, why did you bring me to this godforsaken place? I mean, you could have just talked to me in my dreams, right?"

"I cannot," he reminded him. "Remember, this is why you sought my help."

William scowled at him. "I didn't seek anything. You were the one who texted me to come here."

Xavier pointed a finger at William. "You were the one who answered the request. You could have chosen to ignore my messages. Instead, you came here. The way I see it, you were the one seeking help. I have used this as a conduit to finally reach you and help you out."

The look of frustration was painted over William's face. He felt it was silly to argue with his conscience over who needed help, especially since he was losing the argument. "So, how can you help me?" he asked.

Xavier leaned towards William. "What is troubling you?"

William shot a look of anger and shock. "Why are you even asking me that question? You know the answer already. I'm having these nightmares every night and it's killing me!"

Xavier brought his fingers to the corners of his lips, dragging them until he created a frown. "I already know about the nightmares, William. The question is why do you have them? What is it that gives you these nightmares night in and night out?"

William took a deep breath. "I don't know," he replied. "Everything, I guess."

Xavier straightened out his lips again. "I don't quite think so. Let's use the power of deduction to figure out the true problem here." He began to circle around the boy. "What have you had nightmares about since this first began?" he asked.

William began to dig through his memories. He wasn't lying when he said that everything in his life was the subject of one nightmare or another. He picked out the first thing that came to mind. "My grades," he said.

The man in white shook his head. "No, no, that's not it," he said. "You may not be the brightest bulb in the pack but you can illuminate a room well enough. Try again."

"My parents," William said.

Xavier shook his head once more. "Absolutely not! They love you too much to ever consider harming you. When was the last time you saw any of them become furious at you over your actions?" he asked.

He had a point. To his recollection, William had never got yelled at by his parents, not even for the school expulsion years ago. "Fine. My classmates? My health? What about the end of the world?"

Xavier turned up the corners of his mouth and lowered half of it to express the laughter he was echoing through his space. "You never got along too well with many of your classmates, which is the way you tend to like it. You're still a strapping young man, too young to ever be concerned about your health. As for the end of the world, it will take at least several millennia until that happens. Come now, William, think! What is it that you dream of the most?"

William thought hard about this. Ever since he became of age, he began to notice girls. He obsessed about them and began to admire anyone of the opposite sex. "Love," he answered.


	6. The Choice

"This is correct," Xavier said as he closed his mouth to form a simple smile. "Love has been something you always sought after once you matured. It has often been a source of great joy for you, but it has also become your curse. Tell me, do you remember why you got expelled from your last school?"

William knew exactly why he got expelled. He didn't need to answer the question with a reason. Instead, he decided to answer the question with a name. "Mary Busson," he answered, a grin appearing on his face as the words rolled out of his mouth. "She was a fox."

Xavier turned up the corners of his mouth a little higher to maintain a devilish grin. "Yes, she was a vixen. Your first real crush if I remember correctly. Do you remember what happened when you told her how you felt?"

The grin on William's face disappeared, replaced instead with a solemn countenance. "She rejected me. Said I wasn't her type."

Xavier erased the grin and formed a simple straight line once more. "That stung you. The first girl you wanted to get to know and have a serious relationship with brushes you off after you confessed your love to her. That was a real blow to your confidence. Most boys would have given up at that point and moved on. You, however, were different."

William nodded. "I plastered love letters all over the campus."

"It was a good plan," he noted. "It attracted her attention and made her reconsider her feelings for you. Unfortunately, it made everyone else on campus aware that you had fallen madly in love with her and weren't afraid to let the world know that fact. That made everyone think you had gone insane since you had professed your love openly for the person who happened to be the Principal's daughter."

William winced at the mention of that fact. "He wasn't exactly happy about that."

Xavier nodded. "Indeed. Called you a stalker and had you expelled from the school. Your parents knew it was a bogus reason for being expelled but felt it was a waste of energy to fight a man so hard-headed. Their best move for you was Kadic Academy. Things were going well until you met… her."

William clenched his fists and began to brood. He knew where his conscience was going with his line of reasoning. "You leave her out of this."

Xavier manipulated his mouth until it became a small circle. "Who? Yumi Ishiyama? The girl you are currently infatuated with?" He transformed the circle into a mouth of laughter. "Dear boy, we may have found the solution. Yumi is the reason you have been having all of these nightmares in your life."

"Shut up!" William shouted as he pointed a finger straight at Xavier while his other hand was still balled up in a fist. "You don't know her like I know her?"

Xavier continued to laugh. "Oh, really?" he asked. "Aside from the fact that she isn't the Principal's daughter, I know a bit more about her than you do. I know that she's in the same grade as you are. I know that she was the first to welcome you to Kadic. I know that she was just using you to get back at Ulrich."

William waved his hand dismissively. "That's crap! Yumi would never do such a thing."

Xavier straightened out his mouth. "Tell me something, William. When Yumi was around you, did she often try to flirt with you or did you flirt with her? Were you two alone when it happened or was Ulrich always present? If she was doing the flirting more than you were, why didn't it escalate into something more?"

William turned away. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he said in low tones.

"Of course you do," Xavier said. "She would get into a fight with Ulrich, come to you, flirt a little, walk off with you, and then nothing would happen after that. One moment she asks you to go somewhere with her. The next moment she's back hanging out with Ulrich and her friends. She is the very personification of the word tease."

William's tone of voice changed as he went back on the offensive. "What about Lyoko? If she was just using me, she would never have told me about Lyoko and asked me to join the group."

Xavier nodded. "Ah yes, Lyoko. True, she did ask you to be in the group to fight of XANA and she did it with everyone else in agreement. You do remember what happened to you the first time you went there, correct? After all of the fighting you did, you got captured by XANA's forces. Did Yumi or any of her friends help you after that? No, Ulrich went and attacked you while everyone else ran away. Ultimately they left you alone in this newfound world with all of these unfamiliar creatures. Instead of coming back to rescue you, they attacked you over and over again. Shot, cut, stabbed, thrown from cliffs; you experienced all manners of death before any attempt to rescue you was made."

William closed his eyes and fell silent as he began to clench his fists once more. Everything that was said was true and he had no rebuttal for this.

"What do you think happened at Kadic while you were away in Lyoko?" Xavier asked as he continued to circle William. "Yumi and her crew were smart enough to make a replica of you while you were away so as to hide the fact that you were not really there. They had everything right. The look. The height. The voice. The one thing they forgot, of course, was the intelligence. Your clone was as dumb as a post. It made an absolute fool of itself and did so in your name. Haven't you wondered why all of the students look at you funny nowadays?"

William shook his head. He had never really talked to anyone since he got back from Lyoko. Every time he looked at someone, they would either turn their head away or whisper something to someone else before moving on. His fists balled up tighter as Xavier rattled on.

"So what has happened to you so far, William?" he asked. "You come back from Lyoko with no friends and a head full of nightmares. Everyone looks at you like a freak and Yumi's friends mock you every step of the way while she gives you a helping of mock pity." He shakes his head as he turns down the corners of his mouth slightly. "Such a shame."

"ENOUGH!" William shouted. He could no longer take the ridicule and reasoning his conscience was giving out. With his fists balled up as tightly as possible, he swung at Xavier who disappeared in a puff of black smoke before William could make contact with him.

Xavier appeared behind him. "Face it, Mr. Dunbar. The wiles of a young woman have done you in once more."

William took another swing and again Xavier became a cloud of smoke that re-appeared behind him.

"She used you. She took both your sanity and your heart and crushed them both under the heel of her boot."

William took another swing and missed. Xavier re-appeared once more behind him.

"She is spiting you right now, William. Right now, as you waste your time trying to kill your own conscience, she is with that young boy, Ulrich." He leaned in closer, straightening his mouth into a simple straight line. "Maybe she is with him in her room. Maybe she is with him in his room. More than likely, she is with him in your room. Making passionate love to him. On. Your. Bed."

That last statement took him to his boiling point. William, knowing that someone was behind him, shoved his elbow behind him, catching Xavier squarely in the stomach. As the figure bent over, William turned around and tackled him to the floor. Before Xavier had a chance to defend himself, William sat on his chest and pounded away at his face. Every blow that landed on the mask of the helpless victim sounded like porcelain being hit upon. Several blows landed in succession until a cracking sound was heard when William landed one final punch. He removed his fist to see that he had cracked the left eye of the mask. A few pieces fell off until the eye was finally exposed. The cracking travelled as other pieces of the mask crumbled to the floor. William got off of the body and stood up while Xavier followed suit. As he did, the rest of the mask fell, first revealing the black hair underneath then the right eye. The pieces covering the nose fell apart to reveal a true nose underneath. The line used to represent a mouth fell apart, revealing a pair of lips. As the final piece of the mask fell, William's eyes widened as he saw that Xavier, the man he thought to be his conscience, looked exactly like him.

Xavier blinked his eyes a few times before looking at him eye to eye. "Now that you see past the façade," he said, "you know that I am only speaking the truth."

William took a few steps back in disbelief. Xavier was right. He had been used by another woman. She caused everyone to shy away from him. She caused him to question his own reality by revealing Lyoko to him. She caused him to have another agonizing heartbreak. It was ultimately her fault that he was losing his grip on reality. With his sanity almost depleted, William fell to the ground and did the only thing he knew how to do at that moment in time. He lay on the floor, curled up into the fetal position, and began to cry.

Xavier let him pour out his emotions before bending down to his side. "I'm sorry, William. No one should ever have to experience the things you did, especially at your young age. The fact that you were able to hang on to reality for so long is a testament to your strong mental health. Now, I told you that I would be able to fix your problems if you came here to meet me. You fulfilled your end of the bargain. It is only fair that I do the same."

Xavier helped William get back on his feet and gave him a few moments to calm down. Xavier took his left hand and, with the help of a puff of black smoke, conjured up a door. "This door leads you back to your current life. If you are content with everything as it stands now, you can walk through that door. You will forget everything you see here. You will not remember everything you hear here. You will wake up in your bed, think that this whole conversation is nothing but a dream, and move on with the rest of your life as it stands now."

He then took his right hand and produced a sword, minus the blade. "If you choose to take this, however, you will start your life over again. You will still have the same parents and you will still go to the same school but you will now have power. The power to ignore those who hate you. The power to get revenge on those who did nothing but spite you. Most importantly, by taking this, you will have the power to change the world around you for the better and the power to free yourself from everything that plagues you." He presented the handle to William. "What shall it be?"

William weighed out the choice before him. On one hand, the sword handle made him remember when he was a prisoner of Lyoko. The power was intense but he had no control over who he was or what he did. It was never his choice to be given those powers but he did not completely hate them either. In fact, part of him loved the power and missed the feeling of strength that coursed through his body. On the other hand, he could return to his current reality. While things were bad now, he could only hope that it would get better. However, when would that happen? How much longer would he have to wait before his nightmares ended? How much longer before he could muster the courage to face Yumi and confess his feelings for her? How much longer before his life went back to normal? The choice suddenly became clear. He grabbed the handle from Xavier's hand.

Xavier smiled as William's hand grasped the handle of the sword. He began to melt away into a black liquid that pooled up at the hilt of the sword handle. Most of the liquid began to travel on William's body starting from the hand holding the handle. William looked on as the fluid covered his hand then went to his arm. The substance felt warm, almost soothing as it finished coating the arm, proceeding down to the rest of the body. He looked on as the black liquid proceeded to cover his feet, making his body shine in the process. Once he saw that the procedure looked to be complete, he saw that the substance was going upwards. He felt the temperature rise as the fluid crept up his neck. As it finished covering his neck, William began to panic. The temperature began to heat up to where he felt like he was being cooked. He tried to move his body but to no avail as the substance flowed up his chin and into his mouth. He struggled to breathe as it began to envelop his whole head, entering into every open orifice in his body. He tried to scream but could only produce a gurgling sound as the liquid captured him in a glossy smooth shell before hardening.

As he stood there, the rest of the liquid on the handle began the last step of the transformation process. A large steel blade was formed that was almost as long and as wide as William's entire body. The hilt provided the same black shine that was present on William's body and covered up a third of the blade in a pattern that looked like tree roots or the veins in a blood circulatory system. Near this design on both sides of the blade was a symbol consisting of three circles, the outer circle lined with one blunt spike at the top and three at the bottom. For a moment, William stood statuesque, frozen in a pose that conveyed a look of agony. Suddenly, the substance began to crack. Moments later, the hard shell of the substance shattered, pieces of it either falling on the floor in large chunks or turning into dust. As the final pieces fell to the floor, William slumped over, the sharp end of his sword slamming on the ground cracking the earth beneath it. He once again wore the black suit with the same emblem that was on his sword now located in his chest. As he looked forward, he opened his eyes, the symbol of XANA flickering over the pupils of his eyes.

"Good boy, William," he said to himself, his voice now transformed to the one he had on Lyoko more than six months ago. "Good boy."


	7. Back in Black

Jeremie's eyes popped open as he heard the sound of beeping echo in his room. The previous night, he had promised Aelita that he would not torture himself for the sake of the team and went to bed at a reasonable hour. Though he was also a light sleeper, the sleepless nights ended up taking a greater toll on his body than he had thought, causing him to sleep heavily that night. While he did get some programming done with Aelita, she encouraged him once more to call it an early night. He sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes before he took a few steps to his desk. Jeremie moved his mouse to wake the monitor up from sleep mode. As the screen shone to life, the scanner revealed that a tower had just gone active in the forest sector. He grabbed his phone and looked at the time. 3:00am. Gritting his teeth, he picked out a name at random from his speed dial list and made the call. He knew the person would hate him for this but in this situation, it had to be done.

Ulrich felt a vibration near the pillow on his bed. He had the habit of putting his phone on vibrate and placing it beside him before he went to sleep just in case something important were to ever happen. Without opening his eyes, he grabbed the phone and placed it on the side of his face. "Hello?" he said, his mind only half-awake.

"It's Jeremie," he said. "XANA just activated a tower in the forest sector. Get Odd and Yumi and meet up at the factory. I'll contact Aelita."

"Alright, we'll be there," he slurred. He put the phone down and lay in his bed for a minute. Going back to sleep sounded like a good idea and this is one of those times he wished XANA would be courteous enough to attack during the day. Ulrich muttered some curses under his breath before getting out of bed. He walked over to his roommate's bed and shook him violently.

"Stop that! What's wrong with you?" Odd asked as he still lay in bed.

"C'mon, Odd, we gotta get to the factory," he told him plainly.

Odd groaned. "How bad is it?" he asked.

"He didn't say," he answered.

"Can I just go there in the morning?" he asked.

"No," Ulrich answered as he continued shaking him violently. Odd groaned again before finally getting out of bed. With that task done, Ulrich took his phone and gave Yumi a call.

Yumi woke up after hearing a low ringing sound next to her head. She always made it a habit to lower her volume before she went to bed so that no one else would wake up in case the phone rang. In her still drowsy state, she looked at who was calling and answered the phone. "This better be good, Ulrich," she said, the sound of sleep still present in her voice.

"Jeremie just got a tower activation alert," he said. "We're all headed to the factory right now."

She yawned before providing a response. "I'll be there." With that she got ready to go to the factory, cursing under her breath about how XANA stopped her from having a great dream and a good night's sleep.

Aelita jumped out of bed once her phone started to ring. Like Yumi, she had a habit of turning down her volume before going to bed. She completely forgot to do that this time, however, and tried to grab the phone as quickly as possible before anyone outside of her dorms heard it. "Jeremie?" she whispered.

"Aelita, we got an activated tower," he answered. "Meet us at the factory."

"Understood." She hung up the phone and quickly got ready. Once she had everything on, she quietly left her dorm room and got out of the building. Aelita made her way to the park and found the sewer entrance that led straight to the bridge where the factory was. Once she made her way inside and down the freight elevator, she met up with the rest of the team. "What's the situation, Jeremie?" she asked.

Jeremie was already at the terminal typing away. "Looks like XANA activated a tower in the forest sector."

"First the arctic sector, now the forest sector. XANA sure works fast in getting Lyoko rebuilt," Yumi noted. "Any damage to our world yet?"

Jeremie hit a few more keys. "Nothing noted so far but with XANA you never know what'll happen."

"That's our cue," Ulrich said as he and the rest of the Lyoko warriors took the elevator and headed to the scanning room. With all of them in their scanning pods, Jeremie started the scanning process to take them to the virtual world. Once the procedure was complete, the heroes were rematerialized in Lyoko. They looked around and saw that the world around them had a red-orange hue to it. There were red rocks around them and the ground shared a similar color. Volcanoes were active and spewed forth smoke and lava every few seconds. The digital sea that surrounded them, normally a blue or deep green color, looked like a more fluid form of lava thanks to the orange color it sported. Ulrich made contact with Jeremie. "Are you sure the active tower is in the forest sector?"

"Yeah, why?" he asked.

"Either the whole forest burned down or this is a brand new sector," he responded.

Jeremie tapped a few keys in order to bring up a wireframe fly-by of the area. Sure enough, Ulrich was correct. "Looks like the map program is on the fritz. You still see an active tower about 350 yards from your current location, right?"

Aelita peered over the horizon and saw the active tower. "That's right," she responded.

"Alright, that part still works," he said with a sigh of relief. The group proceeded to run towards the tower to shut it off. About halfway to the tower, Jeremie made contact. "Heads up, everyone," he warned. "You got a big welcoming committee coming your way."

Ulrich put out his arm to stop the group once he saw what Jeremie was talking about. A large flock of kankrelats were making their way towards them. As Ulrich placed one hand on the sword handle behind him, Odd put out his own arm.

"Let me handle this," he said. "It gives me a good chance to test out Jeremie's upgrades."

Ulrich took his hand away from his weapon and stepped back as Odd took point. With both arms outstretched, Odd began shooting at the enemy. With shots alternating between his left and right wrists, he began to hit kankrelat after kankrelat, whittling down the flock slowly. Odd paced himself so that the creatures would have little to no chance of dodging the projectiles in between shots while Jeremie monitored his hit points, noting that the temperature of the guns was at a low enough level to do no harm. As Odd took down the final kankrelat, he was rewarded with a polite round of clapping from the rest of the group. "Thank you, thank you," he said as he took a bow to his audience.

Jeremie noticed something on the radar. "Don't celebrate just yet, Odd," he relayed. "It looks like…" He stopped himself as he took another look at what was coming. "It can't be."

"What is it, Einstein?" Odd asked.

"You won't believe it, but…" Jeremie's transmission was cut short as a large lava rock came crashing down near the group. Everyone scattered to avoid the falling debris while the area struck by the rock burst into flames.

"You have to repeat that, Jeremie," Odd said. "I didn't…" He stopped talking as he and the rest of the Lyoko warriors saw a figure emerge from the flames. The man was wearing a black suit with the XANA emblem on it. He was also brandishing a rather large sword that also carried the emblem.

"No way!" Ulrich exclaimed.

"Impossible." Aelita said.

"William?" Yumi questioned, believing that her eyes had deceived her.

"It has to be a polymorph," Odd stated as he extended both arms and started firing laser arrows rapidly at the foe. As the arrows came speeding by, William extended his hand and with the help of a black cloud of smoke, stopped the projectiles from hitting his body. Odd stopped firing once he realized that there was no chance in hitting him now. William gathered all of the arrows together and, with the flick of a wrist, flung the massive ball of energy back at Odd. Stunned by the events happening before him, Odd had no time to react and was struck by his own weaponry, the hit instantly de-virtualizing him back into the real world.

"Now what?" Yumi asked.

"Only one thing left to do," Ulrich said as he brandished both of his katanas. "We fight back." Before he could make a move, however, William had used his smoke to bind Ulrich's arms to his body. Unable to move on his own accord, Ulrich was helpless as he was thrown violently against a nearby flaming rock, causing him to both drop his weapons and get knocked out for a brief moment.

Yumi pulled out her fans and stood in front of Aelita. "Make a run for the tower," she said. "I'll take care of this."

Aelita began to make a break for the tower when William spotted her. Before she could put up any type of defense, she too was captured in the binding smoke. He lifted her into the air, knocked away a fan that was thrown by Yumi, and threw Schaeffer's daughter through the flames of the fallen rock, causing her to get knocked out near the tower itself.

Yumi threw her other fan in hopes of getting at least one lucky hit in. Her plan failed as she saw William knock the fan away towards the other fan that was rebounding towards Yumi. Weaponless, Yumi clenched her fists and got into a fighting position, ready to take him on in hand-to-hand combat. William, however, had other plans. He threw out black smoke in her direction. Before she could react, her arms and legs were bound to her body, preventing her from moving. William walked towards her slowly as she struggled to escape her bindings. He stood right next to her and leaned forward a bit. "One day, Yumi, you will grow to love me," he said as he forced his lips onto hers.

Yumi's eyes expressed a look of disgust and anger. She was not only put in a helpless position, she also had her first kiss stolen by a boy who, in his current state, she despised more than anything else in the world. As she struggled further to both escape his kiss and the black smoke prison, her eyes widened as she felt a large blade puncture her body. William backed off from the kiss and produced a devilish grin. Yumi looked down to see that he had stabbed her with this sword, the blade halfway through her body. As she faded away into the digital ether, she looked at the smile on William's face, still in shock at what had just happened.

Ulrich regained consciousness just in time to see William both kiss the woman he loved and stab her afterwards. His blood boiled with rage and he picked up his weapons and stood up, ready to fight William to the death for his transgressions.

Once the last bits of Yumi's body disappeared, William gripped his sword and let the tip of the blade fall on the ground. He looked at Ulrich and continued smiling. With his free hand, he extended his arm and motioned for Ulrich to come forward. "You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?" he asked.

Ulrich breathed deeply. Even though he was more than upset, he knew he needed to keep a calm mind if he were to ever stand a chance in fighting of his adversary. "You ever watch superhero movies?" he asked. "The bad guy always loses."

William produced a low laugh as he readied his sword for battle. Seeing that the opponent was ready to fight, Ulrich charged forward, yelling as both of his swords were ready to strike. William stood motionless as Ulrich charged forward. As he came closer, the raven-haired boy stood his ground. Once Ulrich was within striking range, William jumped backwards, avoiding the sword strike Ulrich unleashed. He then ran off while the samurai continued to give chase. Ulrich stopped once he reached a cliff as William jumped off, retreating to the safety of the digital sea.

Aelita regained consciousness in time to see both William jump off and Ulrich stand at the edge of the cliff, upset that he was not able to extract revenge in Yumi's name. With no time to waste, she got up and entered the tower. A few moments later, the tower in the volcano sector was freed from XANA's control.


	8. Square One

Ulrich and Aelita exited the elevator and entered the control room, joining Odd, Yumi and Jeremie in the process. "So, was that really William we fought with back there?"

Jeremie nodded. "The computer read the same digital signature he had when he was trapped in Lyoko six months ago. This wasn't a clone. It was the real deal."

"Great," Ulrich growled. "With XANA still alive, Lyoko being recreated and William repossessed, we're back at square one."

"XANA didn't capture him," Yumi stated plainly, her face directed at the supercomputer instead of the group. "He went back under his own free will."

"How do you know that?" Odd asked.

"His voice," she answered. "It wasn't XANA's voice like it was before. It was William's own voice."

"But why?" Aelita asked. "Why would he go back to XANA's side."

Yumi shook her head. "I don't know," she said as she clenched her fists tightly, "but one way or another I intend to find out."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

_Story #7, also known as Episode 1 of The Reset Arc, is done. Since I plan for William to play a bigger role in the arc as opposed to the last season of the series, it was fairly important to get him back to the dark side as soon as possible. More importantly, giving him a reason to go back was the goal of this story. It seemed easy on paper but it was definitely a tricky thing to actually accomplish. Unlike most fics out there, I don't see William as pure evil. Rather, I see him as a confused young man that is making a really big mistake. Now on to the notes. _

_-The beginning: This was actually a pretty difficult part of the story to write. I knew I wanted it to be a catalyst for helping William move forward. It had to be something damning and powerful. My concern here was the rating system. By default, displays K-T rated fics first. The user has to dig through the settings to get it to display an M-rated fic. This obviously places an artificial barrier for the reader since some people would rather not do the legwork to get to a story. It was a tough decision to try and determine whether or not I would have to tone down the beginning to make it fall under T standards or just let it fly and go with an M-rating. In the end, I decided that M was the only way I could keep the story integrity. Big ups to _Bighoggi14_ for helping me make that decision. On a side note, this beginning was a modified version of what I had in mind with an early plan to go with a completely M-rated hentai-like/lemon oneshot deal. That plan is dead for now so I figured I should try and use it here. _

_-The hermitage: I refuse to believe that Schaeffer would have only built one version of the supercomputer and scanner system. He would have had to have done some prototypes somewhere before going after the final version. Since his past activities weren't exactly all that clear, I figured he would have had to have done the prototyping at his own residence. I used the idea in "The Lioness" and figured it would make sense here as well._

_-Volcano sector: This was a sector used in the Nintendo Wii version of the game. In the game, the area was the factory where all of the Lyoko towers were made._

_-"Wits": Oh, man. Looking back at the story, if I had known that I wanted to make my own fanfic series and use that one in there, I would have built it a little bit better. As it stands now, I have to figure out how to explain XANA's survival with the supercomputer being shut down. Come to think of it, I can make that another fic, though whether it's told before or after "Wits" is another thing I have to consider._

_-References: Only two references here but ones you may have missed depending on how old you are. Odd's bit about a code he has to enter to get infinite laser arrows is known as the Konami Code. It was used in several of their old-school NES games but it was most popular in Contra where it gave the user 30 lives. In the duel between William and Ulrich, William asks him if he's ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight. This was a line from the 1989 version of "Batman" where, during the flashback sequence where Bruce Wayne's parents get murdered, the killer asks young Bruce the same question._

_And that's that. I'm pretty close to figuring out where exactly to place "Wits" but I'll have to re-read the story to get a better idea. Also, I'll be using my bio page to list down the episode order once a story has been completed so feel free to check it out. As usual, flames are bad. Criticism and reviews are good. Till next time._


End file.
